There was a lot of controversy recently when the Mail on Sunday revealed that Helen Grant - the candidate chosen to replace Ann Widdecombe for the Maidstone and the Weald constituency - had been considering standing for Labour just two years ago. More controversial was the eve-of-poll revelation in Ealing Southall that our candidate, Tony Lit, had attended a Labour fundraiser only weeks earlier. There was also some unhappiness that Saj Karim MEP, a recent defector from the LibDems, was 'toplisted' as a Conservative European elections candidate without grassroots members being given a say.

One of the questions we asked in the latest ConservativeHome.com survey concerned the minimum time that someone should have to wait before being eligible to stand as a Tory candidate. More than 1,600 members voted in the survey and most agreed that there should be a minimum period; 25% thought that there should be no minimum time.

Given that it was about two years from Helen Grant's dalliance with Labour until she was adopted by Maidstone Tories, she satisfied the vast majority of members' expectations of a 'waiting time'. CCHQ should, nonetheless, have told M&TW Tories about her recent political past.

10.45pm:The MoS story is now online: "Mrs Grant carried on supporting Labour by letting the Party use her offices as a telephone canvassing centre in the approach to the 2005 General Election... Labour sources confirmed that Mrs Grant joined the Labour Party in Reigate in July 2004 before leaving without explanation in February 2006. In previous interviews she has said she was only involved with Labour for "for five minutes"."

"In the MoS story, Helen Grant seeks to play down her Labour activism, saying that she was only in the party for "about five minutes". There are some further somewhat unconvincing lines too. What she should have done was to take the story head on and be quite up front about why she left Labour and became impressed by David Cameron. A passionate defence of why she's a Conservative would be far more likely to convince Kent Tories of her worth. The weak lines fed out by CCHQ on her behalf to the MoS have done her a disservice... Helen Grant now has an early opportunity to prove her Widdecombe-esque qualities and sock it to those in politics and the media who are quite clearly seeking to undermine her."

5pm: This is the full response of Helen Grant to the MoS story as sent to me verbatim by CCHQ:

""I have never been a member of the Croydon Labour party. I was a member of the Reigate & Banstead branch from mid 2004. I never attended any of their meetings, made no donations and did no canvassing or campaigning work for them at all. I have never denied my association with the Labour party and talked of it in a newspaper interview published in the summer of 2006."I was approached by Croydon Labour party and I did consider transferring membership to them but I never received any response. They also approached me about using my office telephones and I believe 2 people came in once but never returned."I was seduced by Labour for about 5 minutes but quickly realised what a complete shower they really were. People from poor or minority ethnic backgrounds often unthinkingly consider Labour their party but during my brief flirtation with the Labour party I found them arrogant, complacent and un-inclusive."When David Cameron became leader of the Conservatives in December 2005 I was completely inspired by his vision of inclusiveness, opportunity and trust in people. This led to me join the Conservatives in January 2006, having already resigned from the Labour party."The only party I have only ever voted for is the Conservatives."

Following a further question this was added, from Helen:

"At the request of Toni Letts, a Labour councillor in Croydon, I considered standing as a Labour council candidate for Croydon. I was ineligible to stand for council in Croydon and did not pursue this."

And we included this party spokesman comment:

"Helen is another person who has listened to David Cameron and decided to get involved with the Conservative party because of his positive vision for the counrty."

Mr Woolley sees the selection advances as part of a wider understanding in the Conservative Party about multi-dimensional diversity:

"In the past, the machinery of party politics, particularly that of the Tory party, viewed diversity as being a bit like the united colours of Benetton: it looked good, but it didn't mean one jot.

Today, Shaun Baily is encouraged to talk about his inner-city roots - to talk about tackling crime but also about big business. As the Black farmer, Emmanual Jones has turned his race into a successful business brand. And Helen Grant will spare no one's blushes when she talks about her early days as a lawyer and being the only black person in so many offices.

In the past, these would-be politicians were given a choice that was stark as it was debilitating: be either a one-dimensional ethnic minority MP or a multifaceted MP who does not talk about race. Time will tell whether the party and these individuals can continue the transformation of the party.

The party's Caroline Spelman made her intentions clear when she unequivocally sacked the Tory councillor Nigel Hastilow for refusing to apologise for his use of Enoch Powell's "rivers of blood" speech. That's relatively easy stuff when compared with challenging the party's dominant view that nearly all immigration is bad, or that multiculturalism is to blame for the radicalisation of some Muslims."

PS We'd like to take Mr Woolley at face value but he's difficult to take very seriously. This is what he wrote in March 2007:

"In a long run-up to a general election Cameron can no longer be all things to all people. He is either with his party's neocons who harbour a profound dislike for anyone who isn't like them or he is a liberal moderniser that weeds them out, and champions a multicultural inclusive society."

We know neocons has become a routine term of abuse but that's a very silly misuse of the expression.

In the second big selection of the weekend Helen Grant has been selected by a meeting of Maidstone and The Weald's Executive to be the Conservative candidate at the next General Election.

A solicitor with considerable experience of family law and also healthcare you can read more about Helen on her website. She told M&TW Conservatives that she came into active politics because she was inspired by David Cameron.

Maidstone and The Weald (projected Tory majority of nearly 12,000) have published the finalists for the race to succeed Ann Widdecombe:

Stephen Barclay

James Brokenshire

Conor Burns

Jamie Devlin

Vicky Ford

Helen Grant

Jonathan Lord

Julia Manning

Kulveer Ranger

The two reserves have also been identified:

David Godfrey

Lynne Hack

Good for MaTWCA for publishing in the way they have. They've identified the fact that 22 candidates were interviewed of 98 applications considered.

The selection will be on 20th January. Importantly, that's one day after NE Cambridgeshire select. If Steve Barclay or James Brokenshire succeed there, David Godfrey and Lynne Hack may get to be called.

Ann Widdecombe's seat of Maidstone & The Weald (majority 11793) and Malcolm Moss' seat of North East Cambridgeshire (majority 7530) are open for applications from today until 2pm, Wednesday afternoon (14th November). Expect a lot of candidates to go for them although it appears that the seats are only open to A-listers and local candidates.